Dawn's Destiny
by flippit
Summary: Dawn's out shopping with Stacey and Claudia, when she gets spotted and offered a modeling contract. She's against modeling, but sees it as a way to educate people about the enviroment. But what will hapen when Dawn starts to get caught up in the modeling
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They are the property of Ann M Martin and Scholastic.**

'Dawn! You should try these on!' Stacey said, holding up a pair of bright blue skinny jeans.

'No way, Stacey! I wouldn't be able to move in those things!' I replied, and turned away from her. I was at the Washington Mall with Stacey and Claudia, shopping for some new clothes for winter. I now realized it was a bad idea coming with them.

'Oh, come on, Dawn! Try something new for once! Look, you can try it on with this sweater,' Claudia said, holding up a bulky black sweater with a big black button on it.

'I guess I don't have a choice, do I?' I sighed, took the clothes from Stacey and Claudia. I stepped into one of the fitting rooms, and managed to squeeze myself into the jeans. I pulled the sweater over my head, and shook out my hair.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, and smiled. I actually looked alright! But I was very uncomfortable, and they were very un-Dawn clothes.

'Come on, let us see!' Stacey called, and I reluctantly opened the door and stepped out of the fitting room. Stacey and Claudia said nothing; they just stood gaping at me.

'Well? If you really think I look that bad, I'll put you out of your misery.' I went to step back into the fitting room, but Claudia found her voice, and grabbed me by the wrist.

'No! You look fantastic, Dawn! Those clothes suit you perfectly!' She told me.

'Yeah! Why don't you buy them?' Stacey added.

'Because they are the most uncomfortable pieces of clothing I've ever worn! I can barely breathe!' I retorted. 'I'd much rather wear baggy jeans, thanks.' I once again went to step into the fitting room, but this time a salesperson stopped me.

'Wow! They look amazing on you!' She exclaimed.

'You just want a sale,' I muttered, soft enough so she wouldn't hear me. Out loud, I said, 'Thanks.'

'Here, look at yourself in this mirror,' the salesperson said, pointing to a large mirror over the other side of the store. I wanted to say no, but I thought, Why not?

I walked through the store to the mirror, and admired myself for a few minutes. While I was walking back to Claudia and Stacey, contemplating buying the sweater at least, a man stopped me.

'Are you a model?' He asked, looking me up and down.

'Uh, no,' I replied, and continued walking.

'Well, would you like to be?' He called after me.

I turned to face him. 'No way! I'd absolutely _hate _to be a model! Women demeaning themselves and starving themselves to death and old men perving over pictures of you! Yuck!'

He just laughed. 'Well, if you do change your mind, here's my card. Get one of your parents to call me, and we'll see what happens. Hope to hear from you.' With that, he walked away.

I looked down at the card and saw that his name was Rufus Redmont. When I got back to Claudia and Stacey, they asked what the man wanted.

I shrugged. 'Something about modeling. I don't know. Now, can we please _leave_?' I walked into the fitting room, put my clothes back on, and walked straight out of the store, with Claudia and Stacey trailing behind me.

'Let's go and get a Smoothie,' I said.

'Dawn. Claudia and I need to have a serious talk with you. Don't you DARE throw that card out.' Stacey and Claudia each took me by an arm, and led me up the escalator.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Once again, I do not own these characters!**

'How can you NOT?' Claudia exclaimed. We were sitting outside the Washington Mall, waiting for a bus. We had half an hour before the BSC meeting would start, and it looked like we were going to be late. Claudia and Stacey were still on about the modeling thing, although it'd been an hour.

'I don't want to go around modeling fur; that's animal cruelty!' I exclaimed. 'Now can we please drop it?' The bus, luckily, pulled up then and we climbed aboard.

'Fine,' Stacey said. 'But that's going to be our excuse for being late.'

'Sorry we're late, but we were at the mall and Dawn got offered a modeling job,' Claudia said, once we'd arrived in her bedroom.

'Ten minutes, guys! And just for shopping?' Kristy shook her head.

'Uh, Kristy? Dawn got offered MODELING!' Stacey said, emphasizing "modeling".

'TEN minutes! I don't care if she won the lottery! TEN minutes!' Kristy just couldn't let it go.

'Modeling? That's great, Dawn!' Mary Anne said, jumping up and giving me a hug. I took my place in Claudia's desk chair, and replied,

'I'm not going to do it.'

'WHAT?' Mal cried. 'That job is, like, every girls dream!'

I shrugged. 'Not for me.'

'Oh, come on Dawn, you're being irrational. Think of the money!' Kristy finally acknowledged what was going on.

'I might have to quit the BSC!' I shot back.

Everyone went silent.

'No, you won't be a big time model in the blink of an eye; I'd say you'd have at least another year with the BSC,' Stacey said.

'Well, I'm not doing it. I want to be an environmentalist, not have a job that requires no brains!' It was really starting to annoy me now.

'But Dawn, you could donate the money you earn to environmental charities, or organize protests or whatever,' Jessi said practically. That really hit home. Modeling couldn't be bad if I was doing it to help people, could it?

'I hadn't thought of that,' I said slowly.

'Come on, Dawn! You've got nothing to lose!' Stacey said.

'Ok. I'll ask Mum and Richard, but I doubt they'll let me,' I replied. I was getting kind of excited now.

'Don't worry, I'll help you convince them!' Mary Anne promised.

I was really excited. Me, Dawn Schafer, famous model? I prayed silently that Mum and Richard would say yes.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Mum, Richard, Mary Anne and I sat around the kitchen table eating Chinese food for dinner. All through the meal, I tried to tell them about the modeling, but I couldn't get a word in, as Richard was explaining about some meeting he'd been in that day.

'…yes, it was quite productive. So, how was everyone else's day?' He asked. Mary shot me a Look. This was my chance.

'Um…Well, you know how I went to the mall with Stacey and Claudia today?' I asked, looking at my plate.

'Did you have fun?' Mum asked.

'Yeah. Anyway, while we were in this store, a guy came up to me and asked if I'd like to be a model. I think I'd like to give it a go,' I said in a rush. I flicked the business card Rufus gave me across the table, and dared to look up.

Mum and Richard both looked quite surprised, but neither of them said anything. They just looked at the card.

'The Artistic Modeling Company,' Mum said. 'I've heard of them. What exactly did he say, Dawn?'

'That if I wanted to give a go have one of my parents call him,' I replied. 'Please! I really want to do this!'

'We'll think about,' Mum said, and put the card on the pin-up board next to the fridge.

'You're actually considering letting her do this?' Richard cried.

'Yes,'

'But she's too young! She's only thirteen,' Richard pointed out.

'She'll be fourteen next month,' Mary Anne said.

'Dawn, Mary Anne, please go and do your homework. Richard and I will discuss this while we clean up the kitchen.' Mum started putting dishes in the sink, and, Richard, bewildered that Mum was voluntarily cleaning up, turned on the tap and started rinsing the dishes.

Mary Anne and I went up to our rooms.

Around nine o clock, nearly three hours later, Mum came up to my room.

'Dawn,' she said, 'Can I please talk to you for a minute?' I nodded, and Mum sat down on my bed. I was sitting at my desk, but I turned to face her.

'Dawn, I rang Rufus. He seems very nice, and they have studios located in Stamford, California and Texas,'

'CALIFORNIA?' I shrieked. 'Perfect! I can visit Dad and Jeff while I'm shooting up there!'

'Dawn! Calm down. I haven't said yes yet. Now, you'll need to get some head shots done, which costs over $500,' Mum said, sighing.

'But I'll earn that back on my first job!' I protested.

'That's what Rufus said. But, Dawn, I'll support you if this is really what you want to do, but you need to think about this carefully. Do you want to be a model?'

I thought for all of ten seconds. 'Yes,' I said firmly. 'I really want to give it a go.'

'Ok, then. I'll ring the place tomorrow and book you in for some head shots.' Mum left the room, and went back downstairs. I was ecstatic. I ran down the hall to Mary Anne's room, and struck a pose in her doorway.

'They said yes?' She cried.

'Move over, Elle McPherson. It's time for Dawn Schafer to take the world by storm!'


End file.
